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Scientists Create Mutant Bugs that Produce Crude Oil
Like the beginning of every great science fiction movie, experts claim that they've discovered a cure for our fuel-dependency woes that only requires an army of genetically modified bacteria... that eats wheat straw and excretes crude oil. You read that right: Scientists have created bugs that are able to snack on woodchips or sugar cane and produce waste in the form of easily malleable oil. Not only are the buggers capable of creating a by-product that can quickly be refined into fuel for vehicles, but scientists say the process is carbon-negative -- it outputs less carbon than is required to produce it. Director of the project -- dubbed LS9 -- Greg Pal says that barrel prices could run as low as $50, and that the company plans to have a commercial facility producing the crude in 2011.
And as for the potential threat of world-destroying attack from the mutant bugs? Says Pal, "We're putting these bacteria in a very isolated container: Their entire universe is in that tank. When we're done with them, they're destroyed." Sure buddy -- but we're going to re-watch 'Them!' just in case. [Source: Times Online]
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Comments
5
Subscribe to commentsTyMaSeJun 16th 2008 8:32PM
even if they werent in tanks...why would they take over the world...
G.Jun 17th 2008 2:15AM
Just what the planet needs - another source of fuel to burn and destroy the atmosphere even more. Can they build a bug that eats up the carbon dioxide and spits out oxygen so that we breathe?
anachrophileJun 30th 2008 10:46AM
Yes, they have those already. Not bugs, but some kind of algae that does precisely what you propose. Not that I'm against oilbacteria.
ERICJun 18th 2008 11:56PM
OIL PRODUCING BUGS, AMERICAN BUGS I HOPE, LOL, $50/BARREL OIL MEANS A STRONG"STRONG" DOLLAR, AND A WELL DESERVED SLAP IN THE FACE TO OIL PRODUCING COMPANIES/NATIONS THAT HAVE CAUSED SO MUCH BULLSH?T IN OUR ECONOMY, WE ARE AMERICANS AND WE WILL PREVAIL, PEOPLE HAVE SCREWED UP THINGS HERE A LITTLE BUT BETTER PEOPLE WILL FIX IT SOON.I WANT A PLANT FOR PRODUCTION MADE SMALL ENOUGH TO FILL MY CAR DAILY AND POSSIBLY SELL THE REST TO THE ELECTRIC COMPANIES, BUGS AND HYDROGEN HELL I DONT CARE WHAT COMES FIRST/LAST WE ALL NEED A BREAK!
FreddingtonsworthJun 19th 2008 6:57PM
I, for one, would like to welcome our new mutant oil-crapping bug overlords. I'd like to remind them that I can be used to round up others of my kind to help serve them.